About Us

Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum

Background

The Donora Historical Society was established in 1946 and incorporated in 1996 and is recognized as the oldest community historical society in Washington County of Pennsylvania. We are a non-profit with 501(c)3 status and operate on a volunteer basis. Our parent historical societies are the Washington Country Historical Society and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The original charter members did yeomen's work with laying the foundation for preserving Donora's history. The members that followed would continue that work for the next 70 years. As a testament to all of their hard work and dedication, we have a plethora of artifacts and documents that we can use for research and presentation purposes. In 2008, we opened our present facility to showcase our artifacts and call it the Smog Museum, thus our formal title is theDonora Historical Society and Smog Museum. They are one in the same entity.

Please click on the YouTube videos below for an introduction to the Donora Historical Society (NOTE: we are only open on Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and by appointment):

Introduction to the Donora Historical Society

as well as

Introduction to Donora Historical Society

These videos were created.by California University of Pennsylvania (Cal U) English Honors students as part of their "Digital Storytelling" class that was also sponsored by the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh.

The Donora Historical Society is proud to list these businesses and non-profits as partners and supporters of the Society. Their help and contributions go a long way to the ongoing preservation of Donora history.

Acai Family Raleigh, NC

Barchemy 65 East 1st Street, Donora

Beistel Machining 23 McKean Avenue, Donora

BPO Elks Meldon Avenue, Donora

Max Chywski - State Farm Insurance Route 835, Monongahela

Colgan Insurance Agency Inc. 537 McKean Avenue, Donora

CSC Insurance 4552 Route 51 South, Belle Vernon

Del Suppo, Inc. 26 McKean Avenue, Donora

Delsandro Family Donora and Hampton, VA

Eastern Alloy, Inc. 1138 Meldon Avenue, Donora

Elliott Company 1250 Scott Street Ext., Donora

Gilmore Electric Meldon Avenue, Donora

Hanna Sales 833 McKean Avenue, Donora

Donora Union Pharmacy 642 McKean Avenue, Donora

JED Heating and Cooling, Inc. 840 McKean Avenue, Donora

Sidney Mishkin Indianapolis, IN

Rivers of Steel Heritage Area 623 E. Eighth Avenue, Homestead

Kathleen Shoop Oakmont, PA

Washington County Community Foundation 331 S Main St, Washington

Washington County Tourism 273 South Main St,, Washington

Funding

The costs of maintaining the museum and starting new projects are our biggest challenge. With your help, these and other projects and programs can continue. The Historical Society relies solely on the sale of our Merchandise, contributions and fund raising to maintain the day-to-day expenses of the museum. Please invest in the Historical Society's efforts of preserving and promoting our town's history by making a special donation.

If you would like to donate to the historical society to keep the museum up and running and fund future projects, please make your check payable to:

Donora Historical Society

and send it to:

Donora Historical Society

P.O. Box 522

Donora, PA 15033

or

To Donate to the Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum, please use our PayPal option below:

If you would like toadd a note along with your donation, please consider sending an email to:

April 24th - Tuesday - at the Bridgeville Historical Society at 6:30 p.m.

- Thomas Edison's Concrete Vision: Building Cement

City, Donora, Pennsylvania, 1916-17

September 28th - Saturday - at the Smog Museum at 1:00 p.m. -

Cement City Home and Walking Tour - RSVP

required

September 29th - Sunday - at the Smog Museum at 1:00 p.m. -

Cement City Home and Walking Tour - RSVP

required

October ??th - Saturday - at the Cro Club at 6:00 p.m. - Donora

Football Dragons - Part 2 - historical presentation

December 6th - Friday - no meeting - Christmas dinner at 6:30

p.m. at Duke's Restaurant

Special Events - the Smog Museum will close early if an event occurs on a Saturday.

Saturday, March 30, 2019 at 12:00 p.m., we will be having our third annual Eldora Park Walking Tour. See the Eldora Park Walking Tour page for more information.

Saturday, April 5, 2019 at 12:00 p.m., we will be having our third annual Eldora Park Walking Tour. See the Eldora Park Walking Tour page for more information.

On Saturday, April 13, 2019 at 1:00 p.m., we will be having our ninth annual Cement City Home and Walking Tour #1. See the Cement City page for more information.

On Sunday, April 14, 2019 at 1:00 p.m., we will be having our ninth annual Cement City Home and Walking Tour #2. See the Cement City page for more information.

On Saturday, May 4, 2019 at 1:00 p.m., we will be having our ninth annual Cement City Home and Walking Tour #3. See the Cement City page for more information.

On Sunday, May 5, 2019 at 1:00 p.m., we will be having our ninth annual Cement City Home and Walking Tour #4. See the Cement City page for more information.

On Saturday, June 1, 2019 at 1:00 p.m., at the Donora Public Library -

Living Legends of Donora Football - an afternoon of storytelling.

On Sunday, September 28, 2018 at 1:00 p.m., we will be having our ninth annual Cement City Home and Walking Tour #5. The Steelers game this day is scheduled at 4:15 p.m. See the Cement City page for more information.

On Sunday, September 29, 2018 at 1:00 p.m., we will be having our ninth annual Cement City Home and Walking Tour #6. The Steelers game this day is scheduled at 4:15 p.m. See the Cement City page for more information.

Membership

A $15.00 donation for an individual membership ($25.00 for family) is all it takes to officially join the Historical Society each year. Stop in at the Museum and sign up today, send us an email to request a membership/donation form, or if you would like to join the historical society to fund future projects, please make your check payable to:

Donora Historical Society

along with your contact information and send it to:

Donora Historical Society

P.O. Box 522

Donora, PA 15033

NOTE: Keep in mind your donation is tax deductible.

Museum

The Historical Society maintains our museum - the Smog Museum. Please click on the Smog Museum page for more information.

Volunteering

Our work is being carried out by a talented and devoted group of volunteers and members who share the common goal of strengthening and advancing the mission of the society. If you would like to volunteer, please stop by the museum, email or call us to discuss further.

Heinz History Center Affiliation

In 2013, the Donora Historical Society joined the Heinz History Center's - History Center Affiliate Program (HCAP). Since then we've worked on numerous projects together, some of which are listed below:

October 2012 - Brian Charlton presented at the Heinz History Center as part of the Environmental Teen Town Hall & National Youth Summit on the Dust Bowl by Ken Burns with a live webcast with the Smithsonian Institution;

September 2013 - Brian Charlton wrote an article for the Heinz History Center's Western PA History magazine titled, "Cement City: Thomas Edison's Experiment With Worker's Housing In Donora." The magazine can be found on our Merchandise page;

Fall of 2013 - HCAP sponsored program with Cal U of PA Honors English class titled "Digital Storytelling". The result was the video found on our 1948 Smog page titled, "A Town Called Donora";

March 2014 - we hosted a group of Heinz History Center docents for a special Cement City Home and Walking Tour, as well as lunch and a tour of the Smog Museum;

Spring 2014 - HCAP sponsored program with Cal U of PA Honors English class titled "Digital Storytelling". The result was the video found on our Cement City page titled, "Cement City: A Digital Story";

September 2014 - as part of the HCAP Affiliate Ambassador's series, Brian Charlton presented "Donora and the 1948 Air Quality Crisis" at the Heinz History Center that was filmed and aired by C-SPAN and can still be seen via our 1948 Smog page;

Fall 2014 - HCAP sponsored program with Cal U of PA Honors English class titled "Digital Storytelling". The result was the video found on our Cement City page titled, "Cement City: The Initial Proposal";

March/April 2015 - hosted the Heinz History Center traveling Civil War Exhibit for six weeks;

Spring 2015 - HCAP sponsored program with Cal U of PA Honors English class. The result was editing this website;

August 2015 - Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum featured in Heinz History Center's Western PA History Magazine - Summer 2015 in their HCAP Spotlight article;

December 2015 - helped the Heinz History Center receive a national award from the American Association for State and Local History for the traveling Civil War Exhibit;

September 2016 - submitted a project application on "Digital Storytelling" with the Heinz History Center and Cal U of PA to the Appalachian Studies Conference to be held in 2017 at Virginia Tech University;

March 2017 - presented "Digital Storytelling" with the Heinz History Center and Cal U of PA to the Appalachian Studies Conference at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, VA.

March 2017 - awarded the Heinz History Center travelling WWII Exhibit for February 1 to April 7, 2020;

Fall 2017 - HCAP sponsored program with Cal U of PA Honors English class titled "Digital Storytelling." You can read about it here in a Herald-Standard article titled, "Cal U honors students premier digital stories on regional historic sites.";

April 2018 - presented "Cement City" with the Heinz History Center and University of Pittsburgh's Osher Adult Continuing Education classes.

presented
the “1948 Smog” to the Bridgeville Historical Society (November);

worked with Carnegie Science Center's Miniature Railroad & Village to create seven Cement City homes as the featured addition for their train display (November);

worked with California U of PA library with loaning WWII artifacts as part of their hosting of the Heinz History Center's travelling WWII Exhibit (August to November);

worked
with a Point Park University Graphic Design student through their Wood Street Communications group on a new Smog Museum logo and signage (September to December);

partnered
with the Heinz History Center's
and California U of PA's "Digital
Storytelling" Honors English on their class project – helped two
groups – theme WWII (December);

Christmas
Party at Duke’s Café (December);

provided
information and photos to authors for research on the “1948 Smog”, Cement City,
Stan “The Man” Musial for future books, Blogs and websites;

provided
research info on the 1948 Smog and Cement City for professors and students from
various universities such as: China Petroleum University, Brown, Arizona, Georgia, North
Carolina, Kansas State, Pittsburgh, Cal U of PA Digital Storytelling, Penn State-Beaver,
Point Park, and Washington and Jefferson;

helped
school groups and teachers from various middle and high schools, both local and
out of state on research;

hosted Tom Norris of the Air Quality Program of the PA Department of Environmental Protection (EPA) with a museum tour and to discuss future projects (December);

Christmas Party at
Duke’s Café (December);

provided research
info on the 1948 Smog for various groups and publications:Landisburg Lions Club of Perry County for an
Earth Day presentation;Air quality
curriculum for North Carolina HS science programs;Ringgold MS Gifted Architectural
Project;Belle Vernon MS History Day
entrant on 1948 Smog --State Champ;Fourth
Grade student from Kirkwood, MO on Stan Musial;Scope
Magazine, Scholastic, Inc. New York;Northeast Wisconsin Technical College Smog Data.

provided photos and info for a Stan Musial book by James Giglio titled: "Stan Musial: Baseball Hero" that is part of the "Notable Missourians" series (February);

hosted the Heinz History Center's travelling Civil War Exhibit at the Donora Public Library for six weeks - supplemented with 21 presentations held on Saturdays for over 1,000 visitors that included close to 500 school students, teachers and chaperones. Raised funds for the Donora Public Library and Donora Historical Society (March/April);

hosted Wild Travels TV from Chicago, a travel series who were interested in filming a program on the events of the "1948 Smog" (June);

hosted Steve Schaeber of the Mobile Air Conditioning Society Worldwide (MACS) near Philadelphia, on his article for the ACtion Magazine on the parallels between our current Air Conditioning emissions and the 1948 Smog (June);

submitted and were awarded a Washington County Chamber of Commerce/Tourism Marketing Grant for Cement City brochures (July);

In the Summer 2015 edition of the Heinz History Center's Western PA History magazine, the Historical Society was featured in their "Spotlight on HCAP" that highlights one of the History Center Affiliate Program's (HCAP) members (August);

hosted Alan Lockwood, M.D., Emeritus Professor of Neurology and Nuclear Medicine at the University of New York at Buffalo and author of "The Silent Epidemic: Coal and the Hidden Threat to Health." Lockwood and his family were interested in the "1948 Smog" (Aug);

provided research info on the 1948 Smog for various publications: The Wall Street Journal, EPA Alumni Association Magazine, Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) - Pittsburgh Chapter, and the Kentucky Division of Air Quality;

hosted Donora High School alumni for the reunion presentations - "Class of 1953 Remembers" and "Class of 1965 - 50th Anniversary" (August);

hosted Attorney Michael Jacks from WV for his presentation on his research of the "Zinc Works Remediation Study" (September);

acquired additional Donora Dragons football game films from the 1960's to be transferred to DVD (November);

held our annual Christmas Party at Duke's Cafe (December);

Acquired Stan "The Man" Musial letters during his minor league and WWII Navy days (December).

Special Events and Projects completed in 2014

helped doctorial students from Stanford, Mercyhurst and Wisconsin Eau Claire; helped undergrad students from Cal U and Drexel; helped middle and high school "History Day" students from CA, KY, PA, TX and OH with "1948 Smog" research;

presented "The Founding of Donora." Celebrated the bicentennial of the town that existed before Donora - West Columbia founded in 1814 (February);

hosted a group of Heinz History Center docents for a special Cement City Home and Walking Tour, as well as lunch and a tour of the Smog Museum (March);

worked with the St. Louis Cardinals baseball club on Stan Musial memorabilia (March);

hosted 20 tourists at the Smog Museum as part of a larger seven day tour organized by Sports Leisure Vacations from Sacramento, CA titled, “Fall Foliage with the Famous in Pennsylvania” (Oct);

hosted the Westmoreland County Community Book Club to review “After the Fog” -- a novel of historical fiction about the 1948 Donora Smog (Oct);

organized a Town Hall conference titled; “Commemorating the 1948 Donora Smog Disaster -- a seminal moment in environmental history” that focused on education, awareness, communication and the commemoration of that infamous Halloween weekend in 1948 which forever linked the town of Donora with the modern environmental movement. Scholars from Carnegie Mellon, W&J, Cal U, and Chatham University; a Natural Gas representative from Consol Energy; and members of the Heinz History Center contributed. The day concluded with a screening of “Rumor of Blue Sky,” a primary source documentary by filmmaker and Art Institute of Pittsburgh professor Andrew Maietta (Oct);

Third Annual Cement City Walking Tour – 33 attendees (Oct);

hosted local student Carmen Sawa who presented her award winning film on the 1948 Smog used for the 2013 Pennsylvania History Day Competition (Oct);

hosted Dennis Ballas- history of 1918 Flu and impact on Mon Valley (November);

worked with Cal U Honor students on a “Digital Story Telling” class documentary. The class was sponsored by the Heinz History Center. Donora’s documentary was considered best in show and featured a poem on the 1948 Smog written in 1950 by a young German poet named Guenter Kunert who went on to be one of the most versatile and important contemporary German writers (Dec).

Special Events and Projects completed in 2012

African-American history in Donora – Part I and II (Feb and March);

launched the Donora Historical Society website (May);

St. Dominic’s Church historical presentation (June);

booth at the Whiskey Rebellion Festival in Washington, PA (Aug);

book signing - “After the Fog” -- a novel of historical fiction by Kathleen Shoop (Sept);

Brian Charlton presented at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh as part of the Environmental Teen Town Hall & National Youth Summit on the Dust Bowl by Ken Burns with a live webcast with the Smithsonian Institution (Oct);

Our Mission:

The mission of the Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum is to preserve, research, interpret and promote Donora history through cooperative continuing educational relationships with individuals and institutions; focusing on causes and effects of the 1948 "smog" tragedy and its impact on global environmental concerns and issues.